Richard III's coffin will once again be available for the public to pay their respects today - if they can stand the queues.

But people will have more chance of seeing the king's coffin today as Leicester Cathedral has taken the decision to remain open until 9pm tonight to meet demand.

From 9am to 12.30pm Leicester Cathedral will be open to the public to view the coffin of King Richard III.

At 1pm the cathedral will then hold a daily communion which will be celebrated by the Assistant Bishop of Leicester the Rt Reverend Christopher Boyle. This is open to the public as an act of worship and will not be an opportunity to view the coffin.

From 2pm to 5pm the casket will once more be on display for the public to view.

And at 5.30pm Leicester Cathedral will host Dominican friars who will sing vespers, a Roman Catholic evening service. It will then reopen to visitors from 7.15pm.

Yesterday saw huge queues as thousands of people sought a glimpse of Richard III's coffin 530 years after he fell in battle.

By mid-morning the line stretched from the south door of Leicester Cathedral and around the block past the King's News newsagents, following yesterday's extraordinary spectacle of the king's procession.

"I came here out of a feeling of wanting to pay my respects," he added.

Behind him was Richard Heald, from Edinburgh, but once of Leicester.

His three daughters had attended Leicester grammar school, and their old playground was right next to the council car park where the king's skeleton had lain forgotten.

"I just want to pay respects before he's put in his tomb," he said.

Seeing the coffin, covered in a dark pall and flanked by Armed Forces veterans, he called it "amazing and beautiful".

"It's quite nice inside - people are being reverent but without being gushing," he added.

Former prison inspector, teacher and University of Leicester alumni, David Davies had travelled from Bristol, as he does every year to mark the wedding anniversary of his wife who died eight years ago - this year it fell on Sunday.

The 80-year-old said he felt it "a very fitting memorial".

"With such a chequered history, even after death, it does still demand recognition as he is a king," he added.

Bishop of Leicester the Rt Rev Tim Stevens said there was "a tone of recognition" in the city and the queues reflected that.